Monthly Archives: April 2013

Tonight was an epic music night for us in Berkeley. We came to Freight & Salvage (first concert we go to there) to witness two amazing performances: alt-pop band Montë Mar, followed by Crystal Bowersox, whom they played with as backing band.

First things first, the opening act ROCKED! They were an LA-based four-piece that exuded talent. Check out their Different Place EP and listen for yourself! They brought back memories of French Kicks, but improved. They had Crystal doing backing vocals for their second to last song, which worked beautifully.

After a brief intermission, Crystal took the stage and she stole our hearts. Every song she performed from her new album and her previous album was impeccable. Her command of the stage, including the way she handled the time she needed to tune her guitar, inviting a person in the audience to tell a joke (which was actually pretty funny), was impeccable.

Crystal connected with the audience (a very mellow Berkeley crowd, until did Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” as her last encore -the crowd went wild!) in a way that is very rare. People would ask her between songs “What is up?” and she’d reply “You are seeing it… 🙂 no, let me see, changing peed bedsheets -got a four year old!” I mean, she was the real deal, and then she stayed behind until LITERALLY the last fan had her albums, posters, etc. autographed. She also shared with the crowd the great news that she would play Patsy Cline on Broadway.

Here is a video of most of her rendition of Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah”:

Crystal:
You are not only incredibly talented. Your heart is so big that it makes people love you even more! Thanks for bringing your music out to Berkeley! It is an honor to count someone like you in the ranks of those raising awareness about diabetes.